How Gacha Games Breed Gambling Addicts

[@p-ll1tu]

Even if you are F2P, you spend a resource more valuable than money which is time

[@7WhiteSword]

exactly, for example in honkai impact you can get a free stigmata (the game equipment), but it needs months to get it

[@CiggySnake]

If you enjoy your time with F2P then it's time well spent, but these games are pretty much designed to make enjoyment sans money nigh impossible.

[@Abood-uj6cf]

but we do it to have fun

[@vermilion6966]

@@Abood-uj6cf but do you? Actually have fun? Past like first month or two

[@Abood-uj6cf]

@@vermilion6966 actually yes. grinding the game and getting to be part of its world is something i look forward to everyday i currently play 3 gacha games and enjoy them alot

[@northmoth]

Ironically enough, A gacha game was that thing that helped me learn to save money. (I won’t elaborate on what is was)

[@Quiet_Jay_C]

I had a moment when I was THIS close to getting THAT ONE character, but his banner were about to end. I asked my dad for advice and he told me that paying real money for a CHANCE to get a character has little sense. To this day I'm grateful to my dad for his advise. By the way, I don't want the character anymore. I don't even play that game now.

[@conicthehedgehog9166]

It probably was genshit impact

[@northmoth]

@@conicthehedgehog9166 It was reverse 1999. (Specifically tooth fairy)

[@nevion5533]

@@northmoth no worries, gachas also helped me to develop a huge amount of greediness to not invest money in them at all. Just did it a few times in GI though until I completely stopped, but still playing the game

[@ushiima]

@@northmoth same actually, I love seeing a huge number of the game's currency haha

[@spacecowboygrim]

As someone who was once addicted to Genshin and Star rail, this video really summed up my thoughts with Gacha games. Eventually, I stopped myself playing them and thought “Am I truly having fun in this game?” “Could I be spending my time better than on here?” “What exactly is fun with this game?” and I immediately stopped because I couldn’t think of any reason why these games are fun either than having a dopamine rush when you see big numbers or getting a 5*. The story of Gacha games are also ruined for me because I’m constantly rushing the story so I can get premium currency to spend on pulling. The amount of money I spent in these games is just embarrassing and I kind of regret ever starting the games because I feel I wasted so much on them for very little results in the end. Everyone else can find fun and spend money on these games but, personally, I really regret the time and money I spent in these games… Even for a brief period, I couldn’t play any other games because they weren’t giving me the dopamine rush I got in Gacha games. I couldn’t go on Animal Crossing because it wasn’t stimulating enough. I couldn’t play Zelda because it wasn’t stimulating enough. I couldn’t even play my favorite game, Minecraft, because it wasn’t stimulating enough. Now that I’ve stopped Gacha games and focusing my time elsewhere, I feel a lot happier and satisfied playing games that are actually fun and not just rushes to get high dopamine

[@yurisei6732]

In fairness, part of this is that Animal Crossing is just a boring game, and Minecraft is exactly as fun as you're motivated to make it - so even if it can be fun, it's not fun when you're forcing yourself to play it. The new open world zeldas work the same way, as many open world collectathons do. That's not as much of a commentary on how parasitic gacha games are as comparisons to games that deliver a more direct sense of fun would be, particularly more linear, classic-style RPGs or adventure games.

[@spacecowboygrim]

@@yurisei6732 I understand your argument but the point I was trying to make is that Gacha games give you such a dopamine rush, you fall addicted to it and feel bored by games that don’t supply the excitement you get from rolling for 5*s or SSRs

[@yurisei6732]

@@spacecowboygrim But that's not actually how gacha games play - the vast majority of the time you spend playing a gacha game, you're not rolling. The addiction mechanisms of gacha are far more complex, and are actually more dependent on the build grind than the pull anticipation overall.

[@daviddamasceno6063]

First thing I do when I see a new gacha game is check the probabilities of getting the rarest character, and how much actual money you'd need to spend in order to get a guaranteed roll. Usually that alone is enough to dissuade me from playing the game.

[@Quiet_Jay_C]

accordingly, That's why the newest Hoyoverse game has doubled the epic item drop by two, but (apparently) lowered the amount of pulls you get daily (some say that character progression is even more expensive than before). You see better chances, you get hyped at more dopamine. Less pulls daily or from events - a greater desire to buy some. It's a "win/nothing changes" situation for devs and players respectively. They even did the IMMENSE pulls giveaway (100 and 80, to be exact) at the game's launch, and I'm pretty positive that these are the pulls they were planning to remove from events.

[@FraserSouris]

I never understood that appeal of Gacha games. Do players actually choose Gacha games based on drop probabilities? Imagine that logic being in any other game. Imagine playing Pokemon and going "Oh boy. I hope Garchomp has a good spawn rate so I can pay to get him". Like, at that point, would it not be better for the game to not be a gacha game so you could get all the units and actually use them in a playthrough?

[@DefinitelANonymous]

@FraserSouris people spend thousands on MMOs all the time. Not to mention the objective time requirement multiplayer games need. But with modern gacha games you can easily enjoy 90% of content without paying, just without the rarest characters (literally all the most popular gachas give you enough resources to get rare chars, just maybe not the specific you choose). I have never seen any class in any action rpg's that have the same production quality as genshin impact or wuthering waves. Compare a diablo 3/4 new class to a genshin impact new character.

[@FraserSouris]

@@DefinitelANonymous That actually was a helpful explanation. Thanks. You are correct that that 90% of these Gacha Games' content doesn't need to be paid for and have high quality in many places, but at the same time, I feel their design as gacha games limits their potential than if they were a singleplayer game. Take the recent Final Fantasy games. You explore the world but have a relatively small cast of characters that develop and grow with you as play and react to stuff. Even your main character is involved with the plot. Moreover, there is at least a complete story from beginning, middle and end with arcs. But Genshin can't really do that. The story has to continue for as long as possible and introduce as many characters as possible. So you meet all kinds of wacky characters that don't get much screentime. And once they do, they don't get much of a role in the main story. Even the main character doesn't have much of a personality and doesn't even care about finding their sibling. So there's a "quantity over quality" regarding the story. New Story content isn't added to expand on the objectives of the existing story but to give more context. Even the gameplay feels odd. Genshin is inspired by Zelda BOTW but BOTW was designed that you could skip entire sections of the story and quests and still be able to defeat Ganon. Hell, you could defeat Ganon as the first thing you did at the start of the game if you had the skills for it. Other RPGs like Witcher or Assassin's Creed at least let you sequence break or route the story with your choices. But Genhin has to keep a lid on progression for the sake of being a Gacha since you can't zoom through too much (at least not without grinding or paying).

[@tenkuken7168]

@@daviddamasceno6063 also how much currency you can get in the game if it's easy and can hit pitty them it's good

[@nachbadz9921]

To be honest, Gacha games taught me self control and knowing when to save up for a character you wanna get Basically planning I've mostly been a F2P player in most gacha games since I'm just a senior highschooler and I don't have any money That aside, as I said Gacha taught me self control and knowing where to spend my money on important things like food, water and bills I can't get the character I wanted? That's fine, there's always reruns of that character

[@kirbycarloalaba5442]

@@nachbadz9921 That is so true whale spend money to improve their status of characters more but for me i want to spend the right characters i needed/wanted when the time is right it not complete but hey.. i managed to get the character thats enough and if unlucky there is always next time

[@ricardocalderon9823]

The problem is when you have access to money. Of course its easy to be f2p when you have no money. That girl didn't spend 20 thousand of her own money but she knew she had access to it.

[@NoOne-sk2ve]

Reruns? What reruns? - Archetype Earth (FGO) Also, I think the funniest thing about FGO is that the main writer had such a massive b0ner for his favorite character that he felt the need to make his skills the most OP in the game which caused a massive powercreep in the HP of enemies in farming nodes and now you can't farm the highest level nodes without him. And of course they didn't rerun him until a year and a half later. It's been 2 years for Arc so I think it's safe to say "probably never" at this point.

[@ricogt7092]

I think im pretty much done with modern gaming stuff like gatcha and battle passes have completely turned me off. I have a big enough backlog of older games that I think I can enjoy for the rest of my life

[@CiggySnake]

The trappings of modern gaming are shameful to say the least. It's just naked greed at the cost of all quality.

[@ricogt7092]

@@CiggySnake great video as always

[@CiggySnake]

@@ricogt7092 I'm glad you enjoyed it man

[@boggart159]

I think you just need to change the types of games you play single player games are better then ever rn

[@john_7000]

Ok boomer

[@toanoradian]

14:21 "These generous and impressive features are build off of a few whales and gambling addicts!" Yes! That's it! You've put words to my feelings about even the 'fair gachas'! In the end, they are willing participants in a depraved world of psychological manipulation and addiction abuse. A few drops of spring water in a poisoned well don't make it safe to drink. Thank you for the video!

[@CiggySnake]

I appreciate it man, thanks

[@MemeLordCrusader]

Fuck em their dumb

[@MechaMugen]

that fact that I can look back on being one of these gacha addicts with fondness shows just how comprehensive and effective these systems are at keeping you hooked. I'm not scared to admit I lost something like $800 just to one summer of playing dokkan battle a few years ago, and I could not give a fuck less about the game itself but rather the trappings of the gambling systems it utilized. They're just that engaging even after all this time.

[@ScottieNippin]

go ahead and load up

[@kaitlyn__L]

Same for me and Witch Mercy in Overwatch, the first “just cosmetic” thing I paid real money for due to FOMO. Or specific Hearthstone character portraits (or just boosters in total over my years of playing, even though I had a “preorder only, so it’s 40% off” personal rule).

[@comradekenobi6908]

​@@kaitlyn__L are overwatch skins even that good? I heard new ones are just recolourings

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@comradekenobi6908 I have no idea anymore tbh. It’s been a long time since I played. I only just learned like two days ago about Overwatch 2. Regardless; I thought I was immune to Just Cosmetic skin pressure. Especially since all the original skins were indeed just recolours. But then Witch Mercy successfully parted me with my money. And one of the first Chinese New Year Mei skins as well, if I recall. So yeah. Almost a year after that, I realised I couldn’t trust myself not to be tempted anymore and had to stop playing it altogether.

[@Silvamoon]

I loved Overwatch. You get free loot boxes just by leveling and the amount per level was always the same. The gameplay was also fun. I never spent $1 and got a ton of awesome skins. With overwatch 2 you now have to get the battlepass so I dropped it. I will never spend money on dlc unless it involves story.

[@hannahdeards9652]

I went to a gachapon place in Sydney with my boyfriend and found the cutest cats dressed in shark costumes figurines. They were so well made and painted. I think they even had airbrushing on them. I wanted a few of them... And ended up going slightly overboard, getting the whole set of 5 in only 6 pulls! I was very happy that day, but I don't ever expect to be so lucky again haha

[@CiggySnake]

Quit while you're ahead, friend. Also that is some crazy luck, good on you.

[@GoodRock87]

Recently, i think i'm getting addicted to Genshin impact. I've seen a lot of people cosplay as characters from the game at anime conventions and received a lot of marketing about this game ever since it was launched so i decided to try it. At first, i felt the characters were charismatic and the world was inviting. Since it's a f2p game i was playing it without spending a single penny, then recently the game showcased one character that really called my attention, so i spent money on the welkin moon blessing. Basically what this blessing does is grating you 90 primogems/day for 30 days. What i didn't know is that if you ever fail to log in any day, this day is discounted and you do not receive any primogem. So then i had to actually log in to game EVERY single day so then i could at least make my spent mony worth anything.

[@InTheEnd75]

What was the character you wanted ?

[@GoodRock87]

@@InTheEnd75 It was Furina. I was lucky to have got her though, since it was my first 50/50. However since i've lost Xianyun to Qiqi, i haven't become that enthusiastic to play Genshin.

[@lordtette]

Yeah that's why I didn't get the welkin moon. Realised it's a paid daily check in. I have adhd checking in everyday is something I can't do

[@bobhill-ol7wp]

Uninstall it

[@standlethemandle]

I still find it crazy that so many people deny that gacha games normalize and promote gambling. these games are inherently predatory

[@MemeLordCrusader]

I love seeing people spend huge amounts of money on something i play for free

[@standlethemandle]

@@MemeLordCrusader that is just objectively not a good thing, and I implore you to seek change within yourself for everyone's sake

[@MemeLordCrusader]

@@standlethemandle should I start gambling on gachas ?

[@huejanus1333]

@@MemeLordCrusaderyou are spending you time which is harder to recoup than money

[@MemeLordCrusader]

@@huejanus1333 ZZZ is fun

[@mommabear2544]

America doesnt have the same regulations for gacha as Japan does. Which is a big problem. I started looking into gacha addiction this morning after I had to remove my card from my game of choice. I spent $400 in less than a month trying to keep up in The Legend of Neverland. This game pulls in a billion US dollars each month. Not only is it a gacha game but also its heavy pvp. So FOMO plus real competition to get what you need to to level up, to again, get what you need to go against others. It is ridiculously easy to fall behind in the game if you aren't spending daily. With $400 spent in less than a month, you might think Im a whale but I am far from it, which is mind boggling to think how much an actual whale is spending

[@branastasia8013]

Imma be real I’m getting real burntout from gacha these days. You barely need any skill, just get the next most op character on the banner. Lately, if there’s a character I’m interested in, I just save a bit, pull for a copy, then delete the game

[@yurisei6732]

I've taken to calling this "late stage gacha gaming". The market is oversaturated now, it's too easy to switch to another gacha when you hit the wall, but at the same time, new gachas aren't very captivating because you're always comparing your lacklustre new-player account on the new game to your stacked long-time spender account on the old game: ZZZ only has one character whose design I like, so I don't really have a reason to play it when I could play Genshin which has dozens I like, but I also don't want to play Genshin because I've essentially finished it. I think we're probably going to see a bit of a shake-up in the gacha space in the next five or ten years, as more and more players realise they kinda don't care anymore.

[@tricouleur9689]

Agreed, the gacha games I played almost requires to no skill to play. It’s all about if you have been pulling for limited time characters. If not you’ll surely have a rough time with those events and get this limited time rewards. FOMO at its finest. So glad I’m losing interest in any gacha games, present or upcoming.

[@CiggySnake]

Those are the most predatorily designed games, where there is minimum room for skill, and success is more dependent on rolls (and thus your bank account).

[@vermilion6966]

Idk about that,i personally had easier time playing half life 2 than hsr 😂

[@dankshadow5665]

recently discovered this video and i wanted to say ever since i started playing gacha games regularly i somehow enjoy playing actual games more maybe thats just a personal thing but it makes me appreciate how great actual games feel to play

[@CiggySnake]

If you eat a ton of bland or bitter food then go to something actually flavorful or sweet, it makes it taste all the better.

[@grr3467]

This is such an informative video, thank you for bringing awareness to this issue, a lot of people are playing these games and getting addicted, which, in some cases,bring financial problems to the families. I play genshin and f2p to low spender, im an adult with very good self control, and ive always been aware of gambling addiction possibility, and must admit, that i do often think about spending a lot in the hopes it would bring me happiness/satisfaction, but fortunately have been strong enough to put my money towards important things such as rent, groceries etc. i hope that people who watch this video or read this, find the necessary mental strength to stop overly spending, spend with moderation, and it will make the game and achievements much more enjoyable!

[@cosmefulanito5052]

Sinking 20,000 hours in a gacha game should be as equally (if not more) outrageous as spending 20,000 dollars. Leisure time should not be as uptight and unforgiving and stressful as a job. You should be able to approach it however and whenever you like. "Be sure to log in every day to spend your energy" "play like there's no tomorrow to earn premium currency because your favorite character will be featured for two weeks" "oh no you couldn't get it, no worries expect a rerun in ONE YEAR" "Don't forget to log in Thursday between 01:00 am - 07:00 am to farm for this super specific level material" "don't forget to farm character exp" "and weapon exp" "animal companion exp" "level up talents" "equipment exp" "in game currency too" "and you're out of energy well log in every day for the next 6 months or so and maybe just maybe you'll have one fully built character" "and if you skip a week or two you'll be set back months" When you're IN the moment you enjoy it to no end but only when you get out and look back at the full picture you can realize you were just a freaking addict the while time. Your life revolved around a game and whenever it let you play and get all those happy chemicals in your brain. Gaming in the modern day, gacha games especially, is way different from gaming 15 - 20 years ago.

[@neves783001]

If there's anything I'm thankful about FGO, it's that it has a massive gap between Japan and NA servers, so I can literally plan and save up. No spending needed (aside from the monthly internet bills, but it is a given). It's all about responsibility and self-control. That, and have a job/life outside of gaming.

[@gustyko8668]

Seriously, not to be that guy..... but I've got at least 3 gacha ads during this video 😂😂

[@CiggySnake]

Mihoyo seems to have infinite money for advertising, the ZZZ ads over the past month have been constant

[@sorrymabbad]

Great video mate. I played some of the games shown on video, and I can say firsthand that some of them literally have burned me out, with FGO being one of the biggest. I really love the story and some of the characters are my absolute favorites in all of fiction, but the gacha itself it unbearably frustrating for me. That said, it always reminds of of this one guy I knew who wouldn't spend a single dime on any gacha he plays, but has shilled out thousands of dollars on CSGO, War Thunder, etc. It's a bit funny looking back on him insisting that they're different. I think one of the ways for these gacha games to move forward maybe with cosmetics (like limited time skins, or unique UI, etc), since they aren't as malicious and consumers won't be as apprehensive towards them. Anyway, keep up the great work, and keep putting bangers 👍

[@CiggySnake]

Hey glad you enjoyed it man, and thanks for the kind words. Yeah, the gambling/lottery adjacent mechanics gacha games are basically known for are gross at best. As you said there are more than a few ways to run a game that is profitable and not predatory, but these companies would much rather prioritize obscene profits over treating consumers with respect, if not dignity. I feel meaningful regulation is the only real route to improving this industry; it's seemingly the only thing that's worked in the past, and something consumers will have to advocate for going forward.

[@jackMeought-fr8vl]

Walking through the casino in Vegas and you'll notice the similarities in colors and animations on the slot machines and gacha games. Its on purpose, and it won't be made illegal as long as it makes billions.

[@CiggySnake]

There's an excellent series called Pay to Win from another channel, Jimmy McGee, which goes heavily in depth on the development of these gambling mechanisms. Something to look into if you want to see just how horrid and deep the entire gambling machine is.

[@cl8804]

GOTCHA, BISH!!

[@clownpiece5992]

Great video. Your channel deserves more subs and views.

[@CiggySnake]

Thanks man, I appreciate the kind words. Feel free to share the vid around if you want to help out. Also good choice of 2hu.

[@redcomn]

My take with gacha game: just don’t If you’re already in please quit, the game will only gave you blueball dopamine. Remember your love one

[@Estoquer-ee8rb]

"Nothing vast enters the life of mortals without a curse." Gacha games are a curse to the gaming industry.

[@CiggySnake]

Much of the gaming industry is cursed nowadays. This is but one sad, corrupt aspect thereof.

[@hestiashearth478]

I spent so much money on gacha, i really needed the help. I stopped playing Genshin Impact for a year, it helped. But then, 2 gacha games from 2 famous animes got released, Black Clover and Danmachi, the gameplay sucks so bad tbh, but my gambling addiction came back. I wanted the characters so bad. It's really such awful games... I'm regretting the money I lost to it so bad.

[@CiggySnake]

It happens man, I'd just encourage you to cut your losses, delete the associated apps, and move on. It's really all you can do, and I'm sorry to hear you got sucked into such a system.

[@MemeLordCrusader]

Bro, never play licensed gotcha unless it's FGO

[@kaitlyn__L]

Honestly I was thinking about Warframe, Overwatch, and Hearthstone but… those at least had the ability to trade in dupes for a rare you wanted. And the latter could be played for free if you were good enough. By comparison to some of the examples in this video it seems almost tame… Also, I think I would way “the predation aspect is obvious” rather than “the predatory-ness is obvious” (midway through, unless I misheard). That’s just a tiny wee thing tho. You did a great job summarising the psychological tricks. That said, at least at the end of the day you have a cute figurine from a real gachapon machine. If you walk away from one of these games you have nothing :/ that’s even more insidious imo

[@CiggySnake]

Warframe (at least when I played it five or so years ago) is one of the best games with gacha/MTX aspects, at least insofar as they actually respect their players and don't try to bleed them dry at every opportunity. I think their actual metric was something like "if it makes us feel gross we don't put it in the game." Such a metric is depressingly rare in the rest of the industry though.

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@CiggySnake I only played it a little bit (my vices were the latter two) but a partner was heavily into it and she often justified it by bringing up those various mitigations. Yet she still spent many hundreds of dollars on stuff she didn’t need, “only during the sales” as if that wasn’t psychology working on her. And she needed to be convinced over like a year to finally quit because she’d started to play purely for dailies once it stopped being fun anymore. It definitely seems like one of the _least_ overtly exploitative, deliberately addictive games in the “genre” compared to other examples you showed. But it’s quite a shame when that is the best we can hope for!

[@CiggySnake]

@@kaitlyn__L I feel said friend had the same sort of susceptibility to these mental tricks but had built up a sufficient barrier to prevent her from playing because she knew on a certain level these games were exploitative. Warframe was seen as just good enough to clear those barriers I suppose. Not trying to play armchair psychologist here nor presume too much about your friend, just my read from what you said here.

[@vermilion6966]

Warframe isnt a gacha 😂 and its ingame prices for warframes are so low its laughable. Rng drops =/= gacha

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@vermilion6966 say what you like, I had to have an intervention with multiple partners to get them to stop sinking money into it. “But there’s a sale on! I’ve got to get the pass! Buy the bundles! No, I don’t need a new Frame, but the price is so good! I’ve got a few points hanging around anyway.”

[@WarioBootyHole]

8:00 Skunk Jumpscare Warning

[@sorrymabbad]

Love the skunk

[@CiggySnake]

The precious skunk

[@meyers0781]

At least in real Gachapon you can trade in or sell duplicates to friends. Also the Pokemon Center in Tokyo actually sell older models as something you can choose or pick.

[@Vincent-rd4rg]

great video Ciggy! I love your music choice btw (just like i LOVE GAMBLING WOO)

[@CiggySnake]

Gamblign is so much fun everybody should go into debt to spin them slots babyyyyy

[@blondesummer7980]

Back in college days when I only have a crappy laptop and a decent phone, gacha is the way I play games. These days I got me a gaming pc, and I'm glad I did. I never spend that much in any gacha I played but man, the time I spent in those games... Would be fine if I always enjoy the time, and I did have some fun time in it. But a lot of time I just login and do daily quests and mandatory daily stuff so I don't get "left behind", and I didn't have fun at all. Now I only have 1 gacha game installed on my phone, and even then the sunk cost is starting to fade away as I don't login daily anymore. I'd rather spend my time playing video games on my pc where I'm completely in control of my time.

[@bobjones4469]

How do you allow your daughter access to 20,000 dollars unsupervised, talk about irresponsible parents. If I had access to that kind of money as a kid, I would have spent it all too, but my parents weren't dumb, so I couldn't get a PC or SNES.

[@ARStudios2000]

I'd say if there is another Gacha game with great gameplay, it's Limbus Company. While the actual gameplay itself is meant for masochists (the amount of calculations and reading you need to do per skill can get ludicrous at times and hard to remember), BUT the payoff to getting a good team comp and syncing unique abilities (on top of understanding when to take a hit and when not to), Limbus Companys turn based combat just hits differently.

[@panda530]

While i play gatcha game, i spend less to no money to them.

[@madokakaname5895]

You have to understand that it is not a gambling addiction for everyone, there are people like myself who just want the character because, its meta, its pretty, its anything that makes you want it. Like a card in Yugioh/magic a collectible etc... You are paying for getting that character and thats it. its not the ludomania or seeking that dopamine rush.

[@sunlessrose8848]

That's pretty much my thoughts exactly. I want the character cause they're pretty lol. I'm certainly not addicted and I only spend $5 on a blessing of the welkin moon and that's it. It's not really the game itself. In the end it boils down to the person. Nobody is FORCING you to spend money, and you don't need to spend money in the game at all to move forward or get the characters you want. Compared to other gacha games, Genshin is actually fairly generous with rewards and nothing is locked behind paywalls. (Unless you count outfits) People blaming the game for addiction is like blaming cigarette makers for giving you lung cancer. In both scenarios, NOBODY forced you to do anything. Nobody forced you to gamble and 6 con every 5 star character just like nobody forced you to smoke a cigarette. You made the choice.

[@acupoflatte8594]

Decent video. I'm an avid gacha game enjoyer myself, and am well diverse in the conversation surrounding it and the perils that come from it. I appreciate and absolutely love videos like yours, so that people who are more on the fence about the genre can further educate themselves. Your video though, ticked me off the wrong way. You present incredibly well, and the research is well shown through the video but every so often I get a sudden jolt from a nonsensical claim or video graphic, and it takes me a second to regain a sense of continuity. I'll name a couple here as examples; - Why at 6:51 did you use the game Azur Lane as the graphic for your section on parasite like banner systems? While the average laymen would view it as merely another gacha game, as the person making this video I would've liked it if you didn't use one of the few gacha games that **doesn't** have a paid gacha system, as Azur Lane's monetization is mainly their cosmetics. - The claim at 7:32 is basically a lie. Artificial difficulty in modern gachas do not exist the way you describe it. Most modern gacha games that aren't IP cash grabs, employ a standard difficulty curve like any other game. For example, you use FATE:GO as your graphic there, and you genuinely do not need to engage in the gacha whatsoever to finish the game's main offering which is the story, seeing as it's reminiscent of the old FATE VN's of course. - At 9:20, you basically dismissed the entire genre as unimpressive, repetitive or poorly designed games. Which is just misrepresenting the issue? Cash grabs in video games exist, bad video games exist. We never used the cash grab schlops that release constantly as the face of a genre, e.g Aliens vs Predator (2010) so why isn't the gacha sub genre afforded the same minimum respect? As it stands, only a minority of video games released every year are worth the MSRP they charge you for. Same goes for gacha games. - Still during 9:40, you constantly merge the criticisms of one game into the entire genre, which again is just... wrong. The good games aren't a slog to get through, the good games don't artificially inhibit you, etc etc. I don't look at Gollum the video game and say, damn look at the rpg game genre and it's awful pacing. As it stands, your video is 90% great, but the remaining 10% just feels completely out of place in your well researched video. Those moments undermined the entire video for me, and it just made me feel disappointment to an otherwise solid criticism piece of the genre, and the issues it brings alongside itself.

[@z0w0z.]

this is why I won't play any gacha game anymore, I don't want to fall into this gambling hole =_= also when I realized gacha is type of gambling I won't be spending anything for it since it haram :3

[@Razoredge581]

Good coverage on an important topic. It's crazy how these gacha games have been able to run with minimal oversight and regulation basically their entire existence.

[@LtheOriginal]

I always felt like calling Gachas/lootboxes/whatever the game calls em, gambling is a bit off. My reasoning for it is, when you gamble, you have potentially the chance to make back what you wagered with in money. But with gachas, you get an in game item, that can't be refunded into money. So, "winning" the Gacha just means you no longer need to be cash cow'd by the company....until the next gacha comes out for the players to be cashed in on again. if anything, I think gachas are closer to a drug fix rather than gambling.

[@CiggySnake]

A valid perspective, gacha games and the addictions they cause are ultimately kinda their own thing. However, gachas use the trappings of gambling systems to incur addiction, hence the comparison here.

[@LtheOriginal]

@@CiggySnake No yeah I completely get that, they DO indeed use the same sort of methods casinos and slot machines in general do, in order to pick at people who have bad habits. Or specifically, to exploit the people who have REAL bad habits. "Just try one spin, it'll only cost ya a single dollar" that kind of sneaky friendly talk.

[@portiadevorak5393]

Thanks for the eye opener dude, and I think I should move on from the gacha genre. Guild wars 2 seems like a good start for me

[@MemeLordCrusader]

Noooooooo

[@wileycoyote9688]

When I first started playing Skullgirls, one of my first thoughts was "wow this game is shockingly well monetized". A few months later and I was totally sucked in. I spent probably ~$200 but the time wasted was far more valuable

[@PichuFan4ever]

When I graduated highschool and got my first job, I was in an extremely lucky situation; I didn't have to pay rent, wasn't in school, and had lots of free time after work. Unfortunately, this led to a crippling Overwatch addiction, and by extension a loot box addiction. I spent probably over 1.5k on loot boxes between early 2017 and late 2018, which is when I took a break from the game to move out of state with my family. That time away from the game made me realize how little it meant to me compared to time spent with my family and on games I love, and I gave it up entirely. I still struggle pretty hard with FOMO and micro transactions, but luckily being broke ATM has kept me away from mobile games and other heavily monetized games. I sincerely hope others like me break the cycle, and find a way to be happy without gambling in their lives. Sorry for the ramble, I just hope my story convinces others to step back and reevaluate what they're doing with their time and money.

[@yanderenejoyer]

I've mentally checked out of gacha games.

[@aiaiaiaia]

gacha games function much in the same way as “maintenance”-type activities, think obligations, routines, passing idle time (like watching this video!); things you do on a daily basis to stave off the idea of doing nothing; their ultimate goal is to integrate themselves into your daily life, which is what their monetization systems are designed to accommodate for

[@TheSuperPlayerify]

yeah, I've become hooked on this stuff as well. It is extremely hard to stop and hard to also not feel immense guilt. FOMO is very predatory.

[@CiggySnake]

You've gotta be cautious with these sorts of things. One thing I will say is that you'll only feel more guilt and experience more sunk costs by continuing on.

[@TheSuperPlayerify]

@@CiggySnake Yes. We all have enough problems as is. I must do better

[@CiggySnake]

I wish you luck in this friend

[@ShuffleFM]

Common Ciggy W. The dude literally cannot miss.

[@CiggySnake]

ty shuff ❤️❤️❤️

[@pandosham]

I'm probably a gachas games worst player cause I like the game and then get to a point where I go "this would be a better single player game" and then I just stop playing

[@buncraft7130]

Some of these games can be absolutely disgusting depending on who's behind them, a gacha by the name of "Space Leaper: Cocoon" recently shut down because the workers went on strike due to not being paid and the same company has an insanely muddy history. I play a lot of gacha games just for the fun and these things are very common but when there is a diamond in the rough it will shine like a sun, Punishing Gray Raven made by Kuro games is one of the only games I can recommend to people that want to try a gacha game for the first time. I just hope that companies would be less greedy when it comes to highly monetized genres.

[@TheNess19]

nice vid ciggy

[@Blueshelll]

Very well done video.

[@vivianbrights8953]

It's not the minors' fault if they got exposed to gacha games or gambling, it's their parent's fault for letting them have unrestricted access to the internet.

[@user-gb1xo5it2j]

Thank you Ciggy, interesting topic as usual.

[@razorback9999able]

Ciggy: One of the most popular games to come out after a past few years has been RAID: Shadow Legends. Me: Are you sponsored?

[@CiggySnake]

At my channel size the only "sponsorship" offers I've received are outright scams or crypto junk (scams).

[@b2studios20]

Super well made video as usual, Ciggy

[@meh92]

The children yearns for the casinos

[@CiggySnake]

It's more that casinos are being put before them, and neither parents nor regulators have the care/concern to either keep kids away from them, or prevent these gambling peddlers from appearing before kids.

[@iguanobro9925]

so glad i quited Blue Archive (after 1 day) for Helldivers 2.

[@davidsabillon5182]

Like commented and subscribed 👍

[@CiggySnake]

A true hero

[@laurenregnier3710]

Thank you . I learned a lot . I see it as needless spending . 😢

[@CiggySnake]

It's needless spending in the sense that entertainment can be considered needless spending; you don't need it to survive or can at least find forms of entertainment that are cheaper/free. With gachas and lootboxes however, they're just built to be highly exploitative of their player base, which is the fundamental issue. Glad you enjoyed the vid and learned something from it though, thanks.

[@boo_taoediting]

I don’t gamble in Genshin that much, since I just build on the characters I have (Which are Hu Tao, Zhongli, kazuha and Barbara)

[@gamerhero9559]

This video is a nice reminder to not spend a lot of money on gacha games as they don't last forever. If you're burned out doing dailies, play a different game for your console instead.

[@kiranikib42]

been playing dokkan for close to 9 years and even when I was younger max I spent was like $10 for the 1+2 deals to do a single (not that that dela was $$10 just the max amount of money I have spent on the game) and while I LOVE dokkan and its been a part of me all my life it has most certainly brought gambling to other parts of my life. When I play board games even when I have a win I gamble to get some extra loot and always gamble on 50/50s, but I'm glad I'm f2p now and have learned to be responsible with saving and am able to clear newer content with the units I have.

[@MrTeacherDO]

Maplestory was the OG gacha that kicked started the dopamine light bulbs in me brain

[@jamesgrey13]

Don't let a Gacha getcha!

[@mrmeow2297]

i avoid Genshin, Honkai etc.

[@CiggySnake]

It's fine to play these gachas, there isn't anything intrinsically wrong with it, you just have to be smart about it. That being said, not even bothering with them is a pretty smart tactic.

[@GG_Nowa]

Games like blue archive and arkKnights hit that itch in theory as I love the tower defense aspects but the gatcha part is just why not just make it not predatory bs when there's enough TD games I can easily bounce too instead and watch the story online

[@ajtriforcegamerofhyrule8538]

Gachas can be extremely unhealthy if you constantly need to spend alot of money for a character I know I'm still recovering from relapsing on spending money on feh i actually winded up broke from spending on it at one point already and decided that's not right I'm currenty just playing other games now to avoid any gachas spending money is unnecessary if it's not helping you pay bills.

[@candycommander]

Unfortunate games like Blue Archive dont have more robust combat systems. If it were a grid turn based system such as xcom id be onboard (they could def afford it) but the current iteration is a hard pass.

[@corvuscorax9028]

now days i am only play the game that have currency exchange feature from in game currency to premium currency -Eve online allowed you to buy plex premium currency with isk ingame currency -Warframe you can trading in game item with platinum ingame premium currency -Guild wars 2 you can exchange gold with gem premium currency be honest during pandemic era selling guild wars 2 gold really help me paying my bill

[@moister3727]

Hah! I've never spend a single dime in a gacha game. Gachas are a waste of time imo

[@arocomisgamusclademork1603]

What's different Gacha in China? Genshin from China, Genshin made 5* characters limited niche gameplay kit like Yoimiya supposedly play charge attack Ganyu versatile ending up bow Hutao.

[@afvpegknight]

Gacha games either steal all your free time or all your money. There is no middle ground.

[@serbiastrong948]

That's a skill issue if you're addicted to Gachas. I play Arlnights and there Chinesse servers get everything 6 months before global. And that allows me too see which character i like,and save up. Thus not allowing me to impulsively spend on every new banner. But in Arknights you can beat the game with 4 stars so you don't really need every new 6 star that comes out.

[@Zynet_Eseled]

Magnus (this body's original owner) was hevaily addocted to Asphalt 9 legends, for quite a long while. To the extent that it absolutely crippled him financially during covid. Probably close to a thousand dollars spent on those card packs. After he broke free, he swore to never touch one of these titles, ever again.

[@DiKambingcorn]

Why President Noy is in 12:00? He's from Philippi es.

[@ScottieNippin]

ya but i fucking love gambling

[@CiggySnake]

Relatable and true

[@Saleaccount498]

Real (I’m broke because of dragon ball legends)

[@MangoPop]

Me and FGO…. :(( My obsession I even have most of the fate games too on switch.

[@yaboi3710]

Why does a child have access to so much money? Why is a child spending so much tine in front of genshin impact? It all starts with parenting, gacha are the pronlem but not the cause

[@HouseHoldAdventures]

Its insane how small someones brain must be to get addicted to this

[@CiggySnake]

While I get where you're coming from, anybody can get addicted to anything, and addiction ruins lives. As silly as a gacha addiction may sound, the deliberate systems in gacha games meant to make them as addictive as possible are gross, and the people who end up getting addicted to them need sympathy and support.

[@bate01071]

@@CiggySnake truth. I am a relatively intelligent guy with a high paying job relative to my peers and played Genshin out of curiosity. This game latched on to a weaker part of myself. I would implore others to realize that even people that are generally intelligent and functioning in some facets of their life can be addicted to anything, including gacha.

[@JabelldiMarco]

They don't! Yes, there are a few people out there, which lack self control, either because of youth or a metal deficit, and these people get addicted to a bunch of stuff, from sex and word to weed and gambling. If those people are minors, it's up to their parents to educate them about risks and counter measures and control and restrict their access to those things. If your're an adult, you have to do this yourself. But if you never encounter something that could cause and addiction (like gambling) in your youth, you will still be able to get addicted when you are an adult; only then it's not your pocket money that you lose, but home and hearth.

[@vermason5]

That's why, belgium banned gacha game.

[@djsergioner]

Yes. I love Blue Archive and Wuthering Waves but even I have to admit that gachas are inherently bad and the qorld would be better without them. That being said, that still doesn't stop me from playing them and enjoying the story, characters and gameplay algonside other real games of course.

[@VORTEXPLAYXYZ]

Thats a you problem not the game and bad parenting

[@deathtrooper2048]

Where you saying that about loot boxes by EA and COD?

[@VORTEXPLAYXYZ]

​@@deathtrooper2048 that's still a u problem the problem is how kids and adults spend money on some bs I've never spend payed a any loot boxes gacha system anything its called being irresponsible

[@whitefibre841]

i play touhou lost word every day i am forsaken save yourselves (raid shadow legends is the gateway gacha) good video excuse me as i go spend 4 billion ciggy cents

[@ThatOneAnnoyingPubPlayer]

As a lost word player myself, screw the predatory systems of the gacha game, I'm just pissed they'll release every character under the sun as a swimsuit alt or retro unit before they add a single pc-98 unit outside of extra cutscenes

[@kaitlyn__L]

Seeing Touhou characters in this was such a gut punch. A huge part of the appeal for me was always how the fan games, comics, and music rearrangements were freely shared (or very cheap) for the love of it. Seeing these characters I know depicted in the same bland corporate art style as any other gacha game, to the extent I barely recognised some of them, was really saddening.

[@Kaimifune]

That's where people got trapped. The term ITS IMPOSSIBLE TO NOT SPEND MONEY. I've played many gachas like Brave Frontier, Langrisser, GI. Its not impossible to not spend money. Its about self control. Those who spend way too much is the reason why people think badly of the Genre.

[@CiggySnake]

While it's not objectively impossible to not spend money in certain gachas, they typically push it to the edge of impossibility. It's a matter of self control, yes, but the games are designed to wear it down in its players.

[@jgnogueira]

You are the exception, is impossible to divorce gatcha games from their natural gambling, my counterpoint to "don't spend money" is "don't create an environment where a person can overspend"

[@Kaimifune]

@@jgnogueiraimo, i don't think so. Its a matter of self discipline, which many has lost, but not impossible. If someone says its impossible to not spend on a gacha game, that's when you know they are already addicted to the dopamine hit. Edit: what im contradicting is the idea that it is impossible to not spend. There are so many free to play players. Its hard yes, but anyone can do it.

[@CiggySnake]

You acknowledge the difficulty of being F2P, but don't seem to acknowledge why that's the case (intentionally addictive mechanics) and why that's an issue

[@Kaimifune]

@@CiggySnake im just saying that its not impossible to not spend. Nothing else. Please don't overthink things.

[@elliekittymeow]

When genshin has multiple free characters that are OP im looking at bennett, xiangling and xingqiu

[@marcbob1111]

deserves more views

[@youngthomasyorke4074]

Good video. What's the SMT song playing 9 mins in?

[@CiggySnake]

Thanks man, glad you enjoyed it. That song is Shibuya Underground District from SMT IV, I also have a link to or full list of the music used in my vids in their descriptions.

[@maxwellboop]

to be honest, gambling doesn't come from like that when your in front of a slot machine, it comes due to depression or clout as I got much more than you, cuz if you see people that aren't depressed, they barley drop anything and would rarely but something they really like, plus, when did you see a happy gambler? never, they are always depressed and even if they have money, still depression, that's why you see rich people would do the extreme stuff just like that and they go to the next extreme stuff, cuz in short happiness comes when you accept what you have, yourself, cuz the world sucks even more already cuz of mostly the US somehow after 2017 to now, basically accept that the world is gone and carry on cuz you are the only happy thing on it, and if you mean another happy person, then you know another one, then it continues to 3, 4 ,5 and that can be anyone

[@nescius2]

Cool video, Japanese have laws againts gambling, but this and pachinko are OK for some (yakuza) reason.

[@CiggySnake]

The Japanese absolutely love their gambling. In spite of it's illegality, they've figured out a number of loopholes to engage in gambling either way.

[@tizianoguy2904]

Sometimes I thank god for making me born in a "Latin American country with poor economy", because I learned by the easiest way to not spend money in these things

[@CiggySnake]

A silver lining, of a sort

[@keselekbakiak]

If you can play gacha game f2p or only spending few bucks on battlepass, then you're not the main target for gacha design. Gacha is designed for rich and poor people who cant resist the temptation of gambling. You can have 90% of community having fun, while 5% suffer from debt and gambling addiction.

[@abrahamicreligionsbowbefor3585]

was dragon collection by infinite interactive?

[@CiggySnake]

Konami, actually

[@Ghostfoxkori]

You sound like a my little pony character

[@CiggySnake]

That's a new one

[@kleddo3126]

I hate dailies because of Fomo and thousands of rewards to claim

[@tenkuken7168]

Gacha is just successful nfts but they are not incompetent and they make quality games

[@irvanray1898]

Mihoyo are one of the most predatory gacha game publisher there is, no wonder people spend thousands of dollars on their games.

[@rabbits2345]

I dont agree with you. Mobile gacha games prior to genshin were garbage. Blatant power creep between patches, low effort turn based shit. And the best part? You get a beautiful splash picture when you pull them but the actual character is a slightly moving 2D sprite. The quality of genshin is still unmatched by most other games. Is genshin perfect? Hell nah. It has so many issues that the devs willingly ignore (end game? Doesn't exist). But give credit where it's due and criticize fairly. Your f2p experience is leagues better than most other gacha games you can play.

[@irvanray1898]

@@rabbits2345 My F2P experience is far better with NIKKE and PGR though, I get GI is kinda innovative but to act like it's great is pure copium.

[@irvanray1898]

Just because it's 3D and open world doesn't mean it's a good game.

[@Nezumi_Yasu]

Mihoyo made a good game where you could grind for stuff like other games but with gacha. that's why it's so good.

[@tomatorama]

Do you have something against gacha games in general? There’s a difference between being a gacha addict and playing gacha games. They are not mutually exclusive, but are different. Playing gacha games is just that, playing gacha. Just like how some of you play your Dota/lol/counter strike/valorant etc. in those games, you spend for skins/whatever, just like how in gacha games, one spend to get their favourite characters. It’s just that gacha games are variable. You might spend a variable amount of money to get a character compared to those other games where it’s guaranteed to get a skin/character if you spend a certain amount. Being a gacha ADDICT however, is like you spend regardless of whether you like the character or not, just like how people want to ‘collect’ skins, these addicts will spend to ‘collect’ characters. Money is of no concern to them. To some people, being addicted and spending lots of money is okay because they’re RICH. The only times when it is really terrible is when it affects their real life. When the money comes from their savings and not their disposable income. When it crippled their decision to make smart decisions on investing for their future. This is where it becomes severe.

[@CiggySnake]

I don't have a special distaste towards gacha games or anything, I've played some gachas and was able to enjoy them for what they're worth. My primary issue is with the addictive elements intrinsic to gacha game design. You have the slot machine aspects of rolling gacha, the sunk cost fallacy which often sets in if you're trying to get a certain roll, the explicit goal from most devs of getting people hooked, and so on. I take issue with these intentionally addictive elements as they exploit the weakest among us. While I think it's possible for people to get "addicted" to and spend mountains of money on Fortnite and the like, in those cases you at least know exactly what you're getting. You're getting ripped off, but it begins and ends with that, they aren't trying to sink your claws into you in the same way as gacha games.

[@7WhiteSword]

your comment sounds exactly like someone who’s addicted to gacha game and no, being addicted is always bad whether you’re rich or poor.

[@wileycoyote9688]

There is a real problem with advertising games that feature all the mechanics of gambling to a player base largely comprised of minors

[@user-hj8oh9kh7v]

How Gacha games create gambling addicts -🤡

[@wileycoyote9688]

By employing all the mechanics of gambling and advertising to minors, correct

[@j3tts0n65]

Great video i 👍 and subbed

[@CiggySnake]

I appreciate it man, glad you enjoyed it